US, Turkey, Qatar call for UN rights debate on Syria

GENEVA

Turkey, the United States and Qatar called May 24 for an urgent debate on Syria at the U.N.’s top human rights body next week, citing the escalating conflict and the regime’s assault on the central town of Qusair.

“We have the honor to request the Human Rights Council to hold an urgent debate on the deteriorating situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic, and the recent killings in Qusair,” the ambassadors of the three countries wrote in their request to council president Remigiusz Henczel.

Rebels face a massive onslaught by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah in the insurgent bastion of Qusair, central Syria.

The town is important for al-Assad’s forces because of its strategic location between Damascus and the Mediterranean coast.